An adult's memoir of a childhood spent with his mother and two sisters in Australia in the closing year of WWII. While his father off fighting the Japanese, two Italian prisoners of war are assigned to help out on the family's estate. Later they are joined by two German refugee women. Problems of country life and personal tensions come to a head.

Os prisioneiros de guerra italianos Alfredo e Joseph e as refugiadas judias Frau Guttman e sua filha Rachel se alojam na fazenda de Dorothy durante a II Guerra. Frau Guttman não se adapta ao local, enquanto Rachel e Joseph vivem romance secreto.